Kelley_S

Hello, I am replacing my starter on a 96 5.7L.
I was wondering if anyone knows what the proper clearances should be from the flywheel to the bendix shaft and also the clearance of the root of the gears once engaged?
Thanks,
Kelley

Kelley_S

I just picked up the starter for my car and the directions are wrong.
It says to shim the starter until there is 1/8th clearance between the bendix shaft and flywheel. The problem w/ that is the bendix gear will hit the flywheel as the gear is 3/16th thick.
I reinstalled the old starter which was factory and the clearance is a atleast 3/16th+ a few thousands atleast.

shoebox

http://shbox.com/1/starter_gear.jpg

Kelley_S

Thanks for the info shoebox, I will check it out tomorrow.
.200" seems like a lot, Im not sure the gears themselves are much longer as that is close to 1/4" (.250)

Kelley_S

I returned the autozone starter, it was junk. Called NAPA and ordered AC Delco, went to pick it up and they wanted to sell me their napa brand. It didnt happen, but their directions showed .020" gear root clearance.
Now I have to go back tomorrow to pick up the Delco so we will see what their directions say.
Thanks Again.

shoebox

I always thought that was incorrect, but never went back and looked at it long enough. I'll move the decimal place to show .020".

Kelley_S

Shoe you may also want to change the 5mm also, think its around 1mm.
OK starter changed, summary:
NAPA reordered my starter, dont know how hard it is to get a AC Delco but it was another reman. from napa w/ the same body style this time for $190.00.
No box; shims or directions, these ppl kill me. Anyhow...
The DuraJunk (Duralast) from Autozone was junk. Just powering it with wires it sounded like a old Chrystler starter to begin with. The other thing I noticed was the bolt holes were slightly larger. The starter would start 2 or 3 times then the bendix would bind on the flywheel. I believe the starter was twisting ever so slightly in the bolt holes causing this. (yes it was torqued & even overtorqued again later). Still had the same problem.
The bolt holes in the starter from napa fit snug like the original and it sounds like a GM starter not a freaking chrystler. Since it didnt come w/ any directions or shims, I installed as is and checked the clearance from the bendix shaft to flywheel. Knowing the original was 3/16th" space w/o any shims, the new starter has a greater shaft clearance. I didnt check the gear root clearance yet. I decided to try it out and see how it sounds.
I started the car and it sounds real good, not great, but real good. I still want to check the gear root clearance as I think it needs to be shimmed properly, it must be the millwright in me I guess....lol.
Also, the best way to remove the starter is to remove the transmission cooling lines and take it out the rear. I was unable to reach them on the transmission so I used a tubing cutter and reinstalled them w/ 5/16" compression fittings. (You will need to plug them also during the change out)

Thanks again shoe for your post. Hope this helps anyone in the future,
Kelley

shoebox

It say .5 mm - not 5 mm. .5mm is ~.020"